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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27118310">Girls und Panzer AU Anthology</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadTakesJake/pseuds/BadTakesJake'>BadTakesJake</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Girls und Panzer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:54:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,533</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27118310</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadTakesJake/pseuds/BadTakesJake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of Girls und Panzer AU stories based upon different ideas. Features a variety of different tones and content of varying degrees of intensity.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Running Away</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>This “series” consists of a number of one-chapter AU stories focusing around the Girls und Panzer universe. Some of these may be positive stories, but most are more-depressing in nature. This series of stories will likely never be “complete” and just updated at random times, and trigger warnings will also not be added with each update. Just be warned: some of these stories may feature some darker contents.</em>
</p>
<hr/><p><strong>[#1]</strong><br/>
Miho Nishizumi curled up on her bed, hugging her cold knees to her chest. Despair flooded her mind as tears dribbled down her cheeks in shaky rivers. Darkness surrounded the teenage girl, the shadowy figures of tank memorabilia staring down at her like a judging council deciding her fate. Even the eyes of the Boko plushes she loved so dearly peered too deep into her heart for her liking; Miho couldn’t bring herself to look up.</p><p>Miho could feel the torrent of rushing water surrounding her as she dove into the raging river despite sitting on her comfortable bed surrounded by familiar artifacts. The water flooding over her, and the adrenaline filling Miho’s blood. Only one thing echoed through her mind as she clawed her way through the water.</p><p>She screamed, gasping for air as her eyes flew open.</p><p>It was a fruitless endeavour. During the final match of what would have been Kuromorimine Girls’ Academy’s tenth consecutive Nationals win, the ground collapsed beneath the tank of one of her teammates–the one teammate whom Miho had ever felt wanted to be her friend. Abandoning the flag tank, Miho dove into the water to save this girl and the others trapped in the tank in an act that would not only lead to Kuromorimine’s greatest loss but also a feat that Miho could never forgive herself for.</p><p>She couldn’t reach the tank. It fell through the water faster than Miho could swim, and the girls inside were unable to escape as the hatch was jammed and the tank’s commander unconscious. When the tank was recovered a few hours later, it was in a sorry state. None of the girls were alive, their bodies floating in a soup of water muddied by both the elements and the grime of the mechanical pool it filled.</p><p>Miho wanted to vomit just remembering the scene, but she had done so enough already; there was nothing left in her stomach.</p><p>As if it wasn’t bad enough that she couldn’t save her teammates from a devastating death, her leaving the flag tank went against the one rule her mother had drilled into her all her life: never abandon your tank. Victory in Sensha-do is more important than all else–that’s the mantra of the Nishizumi Style. Thus, not only did Miho blame herself for being unable to save the four girls, her mother and sister only glared at her as they blamed her for their loss. Ruining the legacy that past generations of Kuromorimine students had built up for them, there was nothing more devastating to the team’s manager Shiho Nishizumi.</p><p>“I really am useless.” Miho sobbed into her clothes, soaking them with tears for those that she failed. “I was never cut out for this.”</p><p>Her mother had abandoned her. Miho sat in this room for days and not even once had her mother even said anything through the door. Shiho’s secretary, a kind woman named Kikuyo Idegami whom Miho saw as her aunt, and Miho’s sister Maho, had both come by every so often but never entered the dark domain in which Miho wept. In fact, Kikuyo has since only left trays of food outside Miho’s door with not a peep but a single knock.</p><p>Miho looked at the figures of the Boko dolls on her shelf. The shadowy figures could have been the bears covered in bandages, or the spirits of the girls she failed glaring down upon her. She shrunk back.</p><p>“What am I going to do?” Miho slapped the bed that she was sitting on, anger welling up inside her. Hopping off her bed, Miho stormed over the shelf with the figures that mocked her and she, without a bit of hesitation, threw them off their perch with nothing but a single swing of her arm. Miho wailed, watching as the figures bounced down onto the ground around her.</p><p>
  <em>Miho...</em>
</p><p>“Akaboshi-san?” Miho thought she heard a voice and called out to the source. Expecting to see the girl with bushy red hair standing behind her, Miho collapsed onto the ground. “Oh right.”</p><p>Koume Akaboshi was the commander of the tank that fell into the river. She had hit her head when the tank slid down the hill and fainted as the tank began to fill with water. It was her that Miho wanted to save most, and she felt devastated that she had been unable to.</p><p>Everyone at Kuromorimine wanted to avoid the legendary Nishizumi sisters. They admired their strength and respected them, Maho and Miho were the team’s commander and vice-commander after all, but they also feared them. The two were on a different level–this was clear to everyone–so everyone avoided them and treated them as outsiders. Everyone but Koume Akaboshi, who had tried several times to get close to Miho but would always be dragged away by her tank mates. Still, for someone as lonely as Miho Nishizumi, who was forever bound to follow in her talented sister’s shadow, the attempt at friendship was enough.</p><p>Miho looked over at her desk. She had considered transferring out, to a school without Sensha-do, but she kept hesitating. Darkness clouded her mind, despair gripping every bit of her sanity.</p><p>She looked at her bedsheets, but closed her eyes.</p><p>“Miho.”</p><p>This time, Miho was aware that she did indeed hear a voice. She turned to her door and watchd with fearful eyes as it creaked open a tiny bit. Light flooded through this small crack and Miho, as if a vampire, shrunk away from it into the shadows. She yelled. “Go away, sis!”</p><p>“Miho, I-” Maho’s hand pushed the door open fully and the body of Kuromorimine’s commander filled the entryway.</p><p>“I said go away!” Miho yelled. Blinded by the sudden change in lighting levels, Miho groped the ground around her and found the soft limb of a Boko doll a short distance away. With a quick movement, Miho picked up the doll and threw it at her older sister, tears streaming down her face as she bared her fangs.</p><p>Maho had never seen her kind younger sister like this before, and she was scared for her sake. She dodged the doll, which bounced softly onto the ground behind her, and offered only a smile. “If you ever want to talk, I’m right here.”</p><p>As the door closed softly, Miho just watched the area with a racing heartbeat. “Why am I such a failure?” Miho screamed, grabbing at her hair. She looked longingly at Boko. A bear so strong he’d always stand up for others despite the dangers... she wished she could be like Boko. But she lacked the courage and the strength. She was weak, pathetic.</p><p>Her vision blurred as tears continued to stream down her face, but Miho was undeterred. She stared at the bed once more.</p><p>
  <em>I can just end it.</em>
</p><p>The despicable thought crossed her mind, but Miho wasn’t surprised. She failed everyone. Kuromorimine’s reputation ruined, and four girls had died because of her weakness.</p><p>Miho had never wanted to do Sensha-do. She hated tanks. She hated the Nishizumi Style. She hated everything about her life. Miho had only ever made three friends through Sensha-do, friends that she hasn’t seen in years. Did they even remember her? She thought of the cheerful Hitomi Yuzumoto, the tomboy Chihiro Yusa, and the tsundere Emi Nakasuga with whom she fought against her sister in an exhibition match.</p><p>“What would they do?” Miho asked the shadows surrounding her.</p><p>She recalled something that Chihiro said about Hitomi once, and what Emi had finally done at the end of that one fateful summer.</p><p>
  <em>I can run away.</em>
</p><p>Miho glanced over at the window. She made no sounds as she snuck over to the wall. The curtains had been closed to block out the light, and she angrily threw them aside. She stared at the shining blue sky outside, the beautiful sun beaming down upon the fields stretching over the horizon.</p><p>“Akaboshi-san...”</p><p>Miho quietly unlocked the window and slowly slid the glass open. Like a ninja, Miho leapt out the window and silently disappeared into the fields.</p><p>“I will live my own life now. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more use to you all.”</p><p>~~~</p><p>“And thus the wind brought you to us.”</p><p>The girl with the long brown hair hidden beneath a blue and white hat smiled. She and her two friends sat on the side of a silver tank, her fingers plucking the strings of a wooden kantele.</p><p>“Do you really think that was the right thing to do?” A smaller girl with blonde hair tied into two tiny pigtails looked up at Miho, a confused look on her face. “Weren’t you worried what your friend would have thought?”</p><p>“I don’t understand.” Miho stared at the small fire burning in front of her. She had been wandering around for months, travelling from place to place as she trained her mind to become stronger.</p><p>The elegant song of the kantele echoed through the forest and Miho turned to the tall girl across from her. “A memory can live stronger than any man.” She smiled. “As long as you hold your friend in your heart and keep living the life you want, I’m sure she would be happy.”</p><p>“You think?” Miho sighed. She had come across these girls a number of times. These girls–Mika, Aki, and Mikko of Jatkosota High School–were stranged, but Miho felt strangely drawn to them. They were similiar in a weird way, Miho had thought, but she still knew that they were far stronger than she could ever be.</p><p>“I don’t really get it.” Aki said with a puff, jumping off the tank and plopping down next to the fire. “But I guess if you’re happy, then it should all work out!”</p><p>Aki’s smile lit up Miho’s mind, and she couldn’t help but smile back. “Thank you girls.”</p><p>“You should stay for dinner!” Aki said cheerfully, leaping up to her feet. “Mikko should be back any minute!”</p><p>“Thank you but,” Miho stood up on her own two legs, throwing her backpack over her shoulder. “I should really be going. I...”</p><p>A strong gust of wind blew that, if Aki had been standing in a different position, would have blown out the fire. Miho just looked up at the girl who had one hand on her hat, staring at the sky. “The wind’s calling me.” Miho announced.</p><p>"The two of us have our own challenges, Nishizumi." Mika said, a serious aura surrounding her. "We both have lives we wish we could escape from. If running is our destiny, then let the wind carry us on the most exciting adventures."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chasing After</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>This “series” consists of a number of one-chapter AU stories focusing around the Girls und Panzer universe. Some of these may be positive stories, but most are more-depressing in nature. This series of stories will likely never be “complete” and just updated at random times, and trigger warnings will also not be added with each update. Just be warned: some of these stories may feature some darker contents.</em>
</p><p><strong>[#2]</strong><br/>
“It seems as though Miho has transferred out of Kuromorimine.” Commander Maho Nishizumi announced to the small group of students who arrived at the hangar early. Among the group stood the silver-haired Erika Itsumi, who stood with her arms crossed next to a Panther tank that had recently undergone maintenance.</p><p>Erika scoffed at the mention of the commander’s younger sister. “Good riddance. Even if she is part of the head family, Miho wasn’t cut out for the Nishizumi Style.” She smiled cruelly with hostile eyes.</p><p>Despite the comments being about her younger sister, whom she cared for more than anything in the world (even if she didn’t always act as if it were the case), Maho knew Erika’s words were harsh yet true. “I can’t say I disagree with you.” she said calmly.</p><p>But not all of the girls in their black and red panzer jackets took the news in stride. The red-haired Koume Akaboshi was devastated. Her chest ached as oxygen caught in her arid throat. “What...?” she muttered.</p><p>It hadn’t been long ago when Miho jumped into a raging river to save Koume and her team from drowning, an act that caused Kuromorimine to lose in the final round of the 62nd National High School Sensha-Do Tournament. Koume was the only one of her team who remained on the team after that; the rest of her friends had been ostracized and forced out as penance for their failures. Hearing that Miho, who she was using to anchor herself to the team, had now joined the rest of her team tore Koume’s heart apart.</p><p>She was sad. She could feel tears running down her cheeks, but from the strikingly cold temperature of the wetness on her face, Koume knew that she was also very angry. She felt betrayed.</p><p>Koume ignored the rest of her commander’s words. Instead, she did nothing but storm off. With Miho gone, she was alone. She knew that the Nishizumi Style’s “victory above all” ideology wasn’t the right one, but she had always wanted to participate in Sensha-Do. She joined Kuromorimine’s team to fulfill that dream, only to have it beaten down as she learned the truth about the school’s fighting style.</p><p>“Akaboshi.” A calm voice called out to her. Koume ignored it as she grabbed the small hat on her head and threw it at the wall of the changing room she entered. Koume didn’t need to look to identify the source of the voice–she had just heard it after all.</p><p>“Commander Nishizumi, with all due respect, I quit the team.” Koume announced. After she had fallen into the river, Koume suffered PTSD from the experience. Locked inside the steel prison of a tank as it drifted down to the bottom of a murky river, unable to escape. Maho had commended her previously for her attempts to overcome this trauma, but they both knew that the experience would never be entirely forgotten. “Without Miho on the team, there’s no reason for me to be here.”</p><p>“I understand. You wish to repay the debt to my sister that you feel you owe to her.” Maho’s words were calm. She wasn’t lying when she said she understood, Koume knew–in fact, it was possible she expected this outcome. “Knowing her, I think she would be quite sad to learn that.”</p><p>Koume’s hands shook, but for the first time she finally turned to look at her commander. “Commander Nishizumi. I apologize. Thank you for all you have done to me.” With a polite bow, Koume slung a black bag over her shoulder. She turned to leave, facing away from Maho, but stopped as she saw something enter the corner of her vision.</p><p>“Miho transferred to a small school. Ooarai Girls Academy.” Koume grabbed the pamphlet that Maho held over her shoulder. Sure enough, a blue ribbon was plastered on the front of the brochure with the school’s name written within it. “Ooarai doesn’t practice Sensha-Do anymore. It’s the reason why she chose that school.” Maho explained this cooly as Koume looked at the image on the front of the paper package.</p><p>Koume took a step away without another word, and Maho looked down. “It’s up to you what you wish to do.”</p><p>~~~</p><p>Koume took a step into the sunlight. One week ago she quit the Sensha-Do team of the illustrious Kuromorimine Girls’ Academy. Now she took a deep breath as she walked into a new classroom.</p><p>“We have a new transfer student joining us today.” The teacher announced, and Koume smiled happily. Her eyes met with a girl who sat in the middle of the room, a look of shock plastered across her face. “Please welcome Koume Akaboshi.”</p><p>---</p><p>“What are you doing here?” Miho exclaimed the moment the lunch bell rang. She slammed her hands onto Koume’s desk, her face showing a mixture of happiness and shock.</p><p>“You know her, Miporin?” An orange-haired girl walked over to Miho, joining her next to Koume’s desk. Alongside the two of them stood a girl with raven black hair and a regal expression.</p><p>Miho nodded. “Saori, Hana, this is Koume Akaboshi. She was a member of Kuromorimine’s Sensha-Do team. She was...” she looked down. “Part of the reason why I transferred here.”</p><p>Koume grabbed Miho’s hands. “After you left, Miho, I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I needed to repay you for saving me back then.” Miho gasped at that, and Koume couldn’t help but smile. “I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble!”</p><p>“Akaboshi...”</p><p>Koume had done quite a bit of research into Ooarai as a school. They stopped doing Sensha-Do almost ten years ago due to a lack of funding, but they brought it back this year for some unknown reason. According to some forums Koume found on the internet, apparently Miho was the commander of this new team. She didn’t know the reasons why Miho agreed to continue pursuing Sensha-Do, but Koume was glad she did.</p><p>“If she was a member of Kuromorimine’s team...?” The tall Hana pondered. She let her words trail off, but the others all knew what she was implying.</p><p>“We did get our butts kicked by St. Gloriana...” Saori continued, again trailing off her words. Both of these girls spoke in hushed whispers, which were useless considering Koume’s close proximity to them.</p><p>“Especially after what she’s been through,” Miho starts, turning to Koume. “We can’t just force her to join the team.”</p><p>“But I can.”</p><p>Another three figures suddenly loomed over the small group gathering around Koume’s newly-designated desk. Hana and Saori stood up to the group, blocking Miho and Koume with their bodies. “Oh no, not again.” Saori chided.</p><p>A short girl with red hair tied into twintails slid right by the two friends, leaning over into Koume’s face over her desk. “I’m the student council president, Anzu Kadotani. What would you say to joining our Sensha-Do team?”</p><p>“I will do anything to help Miho, just as she did for me.” Koume stood up, placing her hands on the desk right in front of the president’s face. “I would be honoured to join the team.”</p><p>“Well that went smoother than I expected.” Said one of the other two girls who appeared alongside the student council president. She was a stern girl with a monocle, her short black hair hanging over her face.</p><p>“Excellent!” Anzu announced, slapping Koume on the back. “Welcome to the team!”</p><p>“We don’t even have a tank for her.” Miho points out. “Or a crew.”</p><p>“Well, what did you do at Kuromorimine? We could always fit you into another existing team.”</p><p>“I commanded a Panzer III for a while, but I can fill any role pretty well.” Koume explained.</p><p>“We could always use a new gunner.” Anzu mused, making the monocle-clad girl behind her to scream in anger. Koume presumed her to be the gunner, and judging by the president’s comment, it was clear she mustn’t be a good one.</p><p>“Calm down, Momo-chan.” The final member of Anzu’s trio attempts to calm down her angered friend. “You’re better at loading, anyway.”</p><p>“If you’ll have me, then I’ll be glad to be of help to you.” Koume responds to their comedic skit with a calm bow before turning back to her vice-commander-turned-commander. “And Miho, this time I want to protect you. Nothing would make me happier.”</p><p>“Ak-” Miho started, but caught herself. “Koume, I’m really glad that you’re here. I’m sorry I abandoned you without warning.”</p><p>Koume couldn’t help herself. Seeing Miho brought back memories of the time she saw her former vice-commander appear through the thick water, her face ushering Koume and her team to safety. Koume’s body shook, and the next thing she realized she was hugging her friend. “Thank you.” Koume sobbed, tears suddenly streaming down her face. “I never got to say it back then.”</p><p>Miho was shocked, and couldn’t respond with words. Instead, she just happily hugged her friend. </p><p>The five others just watched this scene unfold, but not entirely in silence.</p><p>“Are you sure this is a good idea, prez?” The brown-haired girl asks Anzu.</p><p>“It’s fine, Koyama. Every little bit counts, right?”</p><p>“I’m a bit worried about how Yukari will react to another Kuromorimine student joining the team.” Saori points out. “Especially if she ever found out about... this.”</p><p>Koume felt strangely calm, in a way she hadn't for a long time. Ever since the finals, just the thought of getting into a tank brought her a lingering fear and anxiety. But now she had Miho again, and she wasn't going to let her down once more. The anxiety was gone, replaced with a desire to succeed.</p><p>“I won't let you down again... Commander.”</p>
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